Feeding device for furnaces.



U. WEDGE.

FEEDING DEVICE FOR FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28. 1914- RENEWED AP11.27. 1916.

lww Patented Dec. 12, 1916.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dee. i2, i931@ Application filed February 28, 1914, Serial No. 821,675. Renewed April 27,1916. Serial No. 94,053.

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Be it l-:nown that I, U'rLnY WEDGE, a citizen ofthe United States, residing in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, have invented certain improvements in Feeding Devices for Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of mechanism for feeding ore or other material (hereinafter, for convenience, referred to as ore) to furnaces, and especially to annular furnaces of the type shown in my application for Letters Patent filed February 11th1 1914, Serial No. 818,049, the objectof my invention being to effect uniform distribution of the ore throughout the uppermost hearth or hearths of the furnace. This object ll attain in the manner hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top or plan view of sucient of an annular furnace to illustrate the application of my invention thereto; Fig. 2 is a transverse section on a largerI scale on the line a-a, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an inverted view of a distributing plate constituting one of the elements of the mechanism; Fig.

lis a sectional view illustrating a modification of my invention, and Fig. 5 is a plan view illustrating another modification.

The type of furnace shown in my application before referred to has outer and inner annular walls 1 and 2 carrying stationary hearths 4f and a rotating annular structure 6 located between said walls and carrying hearths 5 which rotate with said structure (i and lap the stationary hearths 4. .ln order to provide for the feeding of ore to the luppermost hearth or hearths l employ a hopper 8 suitably mounted upon the rotating spider 7 whereby movement is imparted to the hearth carrier 6, this hopper discharging onto a distributing plate 9 mounted upon the structure 6 so as to rotate therewith and also mounted so as to rotate about its own axis, the plate 9 having in the present instance a depending hub 10 which turns around a vertical pin 11 carried by and projecting upwardly from a cap 12 on the structure 6, the hub 10 being preferably mounted upon rollers interposed between it and the cap so as to lessen the friction at that point.

rlhe distributing plate 9 shown in the present instance is of circular form and has mounted upon it and projecting from its the distributing plate due to contact of its 1 arms 13 with 'the bars 141, said arms are inclinedr rearwardly and thereby prevent the delivery of'a direct blow by the bars 11i as will be understood on reference to Fig. 1.

VThe ore flows downwardly from the hopper 8 onto the `distributing plate 9 and fills the space between the plate and the mouth of the hopper, as shown in Fig. 2, outward feed of the ore from this pile to the periphery of the plate being effected by any suitable means, as for instance by centrifugal force, or by scraper blades 15 suitably mounted upon the spider 7 or other support which does not rotate about the axis of the plate 9. i i

Vv'lhe ore is delivered uniformly from the periphery of the plate 9 onto the uppermost of the stationary hearths 4, which constitute the drying hearths of the furnace, and on these hearths is fed inwardly, as for instance by means of rabbles shown by dott-ed lines in Fig. 2, and finally passes into the furnace through a luted joint between the inner portion of the uppermost stationary hearth 4 and the outer portion of the uppermost rotating hearth 5.

Any desired number of hoppers 8 and distributing plates 9 may be located equidistantly around the rotating structure 6 and these hoppers as they come into line with a stationary hopper erected at one side of the furnace, may be filled therefrom, the rotating structure 6 moving so slowly as to permit such filling of the hoppers 8 during the time that they are passing under the spout Y of the fixed hopper.

Vhile I prefer in all cases to use in connection' with each hopper 8 a distributing platewhich is mounted so as to rotate about its own axis, a non-rotating distributing plate may be employed, if desired, so long as said plate and its hopper 8 travel with the rotating structure 6, the scraper 15 in such case being mounted upon any available member of the furnace which has no movement of rotation with the structure 6, or, instead of a distributing plate, the hopper 8 may be provided with inclined chutes, such for instance as shown at 16 in Fig. 4, the ore from the hopper 8 owing down these chutes by gravity when the gates 17 are lowered.

It is manifest also that arms 13a on the wall 2 and depending pins 14a on the distributing plate 9 may, as shown in Fig. 5, take the place of the arms 13 and bars 14 shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

I claim:

1. The combination, in a furnace, of a fixed annular Vstructure having hearths pro-` jecting therefrom in one direction, a rotating annular structure having hearths projecting therefrom in the opposite direction and overlapping those of the fixed structure, a feed hopper carried by said rotating structure, and means for effecting feed of material from said hopper to the top hearth of the furnace and from said hearth Onto the hearth below.

2. The combination, in a furnace, of fixed and rotating annular structures, a hopper rotating with said rotating annular structure, a distributing plate rotating with said rotating annular structure, and also rotating about its own axis, and means for feeding ore from said distributing plate onto a hearth of the furnace.

8. The combination, in a furnace, of fixed and rotating annular structures, a feed hopper Yrotating with said rotating annular structure, a distributing plate also rotating the rotating annular structure, it will also be caused to rotate about its own axis.

4l. The combination, in a furnace, of fixed and rotating annular structures, a feed hopper rotating with said rotating annular structure, a distributing plate also rotating l with said rotating annular structure and mounted so as to be free to rotate about its own axis, and engaging members on said plate and on the fixed structure of the furnace whereby, as said plate is rotated with the rotating annular structure, it will also be caused to rotate about its own axis, one of said members being inclined rearwardly.

5. The combination, in a furnace, of fixed and rotating annular structures, a feed hopper and distributing plate rotating with said rotating annular structure, a cap on said structure having an upwardly projecting pivot pin, and a depending hub on the distributing plate for the reception of said pin.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my iame to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

UTLEY XVEDGE.

Witnesses KATE A. BEADLE, HAMILTON D. TURNER.

i Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

